


The Flower with Thorns

by Loconita



Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 16:16:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5297912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loconita/pseuds/Loconita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Request done for a friend. Plant Man comes across an odd helper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Flower with Thorns

Plant tended to the plants in his greenhouse. There was never a time where it failed to make him happy. He knew it was because he was built to do such tasks, but he still found peace caring for them. Watching a small sprout blossom into a beautiful flower was absolutely rewarding. That and it helped him get distracted from his previous thoughts...

Today he tried to walk down the streets in hope for some money to steal from some humans. He had tried to use his vines to snatch purses and other bags to no avail. What didn't help was that he barely escaped some Fake Men from catching him in plain sight. Plant was frustrated after the poor attempt. What was worse was that he probably couldn't afford to go back into the city for a good while. Those Fake Men never gave up when they get suspicious.

Plant shook his head. Better to not think of that now. He was in the greenhouse he found months ago safe and sound. What helped was that the facility he was in seemed to be in big disrepair. Unless someone actively chased him, it was hard to find where he was. Any humans that happened to find the greenhouse was easily chased away by his vines making it look like the foliage came to life. There wasn't much else he could ask for.

...Though he missed his linemates. After the incident with the Robot Tournament, it had been hard trying to get into contact with them. As much as he hated to admit it, he hope they were seized. The thought of humans owning any of his linemates made his synthetic skin crawl, but it was better than any of them being homeless like he was.

Still, Plant couldn't help feeling lonely. The company of his plants were nice of course. It just wasn't the same as another robot talking to him or even hugging him like Flame used to do. Plant stopped trimming the bush he had been tending. He pursed his lips and clenched his fists. He tried his best to not think about his line, but the memories flooded him.

He remembered Blizzard trying to feed him some of his "homemade" snow cones, Knight quietly offering him some advice, Yamato slipping into Japanese when they chatted... All the good times they had before Wily decided to mess with their circuits.

Tears trickled down his face. He instinctively wiped his eyes. "Damn it..."

Plant sighed. He was about to recharge to forget his thoughts until a yelp sounded from outside. Plant frowned and prepared his vines to scare off the intruder. He slowly made his way from the broken glass of the greenhouse to see who dared trespass. He blinked seeing none other than another robot from a distance.

What... What was a robot doing out here? Plant would have thought any robot that would be in an area like this would be an excavating drone. This one was nothing like that... this robot seemed to have been owned by someone. They had a pink gem for a helmet along with gems across their body. Just what sort of robot _was_ this?

Plant sneaked closer to the robot. They seemed to have tripped on an exposed root from the massive tree in front of the greenhouse.  They rubbed their face looking to be in pain.

"Ow..." The robot whined.

Plant made sure to stay hidden. They didn't seem to be dangerous... With that plushy face, it was hard to imagine that robot could cause any harm. That being said, he needed to be on guard in case they were a troublemaker.

The jeweled robot got up and brushed off the dust on their body. They looked around curiously.

"Now where would... Oh! There it is!"

The robot started walking to the greenhouse. Plant clenched his fist tightly. They better not be planning to steal any of his precious plants! He rushed to see what the robot was going to do.

It seemed he wasn't as careful as he wanted to be as a crack from stepping on a stick made the robot turn to him. There was an awkward silence as Plant stared into the robot's eyes. There seemed to be a naive innocence just by looking at them. It didn't stop Plant from using his vines to ensnare the robot. They gasped and struggled to get free.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Plant barked out. He felt like me might be overreacting, but he's not going to show any mercy unless they prove themself innocent!

"I-I'm Jewel Man! I-I was sent here to examine the damage of this area! My bosses wanted to mine around here, but they weren't going to bother if this facility would crumble if they just brought their equipment! P-Please don't hurt me!" The robot tried to make himself look smaller. Looks like this one really wasn't capable to do much damage to him. His bosses however...

"This is my home! If you're going to mine around here, you're going to have to get through me!" Plant had his vines grip tighter on this "Jewel Man". He brought him closer to his face. To his surprise, the other robot started crying.

"P-Please... I'm just trying to get my old job back... I-I promise I'll tell them not to mine here... I-I won't even tell them you're here! P-Please let me go..." Jewel closed his eyes and turned away from Plant.

Plant stared at him thinking about what to do. He couldn't tell if those were crocodile tears or genuine. He was sure any human or robot that he had the misfortune of having to capture would bargain for them to be free. This 'Jewel' seemed like he was legitimately terrified though.

"I-I'll even stay here with you if you don't trust me... J-Just don't kill me..." Jewel sniffled pathetically.

That... was not what Plant expected. He wasn't sure what to even think about this robot. What sort of robot (or human for that matter) would offer to stay with the one who held them captive? Plant stared at Jewel for a while before letting him go. Jewel fell to the floor.

"...You're weird." Plant muttered. He watched Jewel rub his arms.

"...Thank you..." Jewel looked up at him.

"What are you thanking me for?"

"For letting me go... I thought I was going to die..." Jewel blinked at him curiously. "...What's your name mister?"

"Why would you want to know?" Plant frowned. What was Jewel getting at?

"Well... I told you why I'm here, but why are you here? This place isn't safe... There's a lot of buildings and architect that's ready to break down if you so as much step on the wrong flooring. I was going to check the greenhouse to see if there was anything that grew that was too dangerous for humans. I can't imagine it's safe for any robot either..."

"That greenhouse _is_ my home! You better not mess it up!" Plant glared at him. Jewel looked away sadly in response.

"...I'm sorry... I didn't know..."

"Of course you don't... You're still working for humans." Plant huffed. He left to go to his greenhouse. "Leave now before I change my mind. You're lucky I'm giving you any chance to leave at all."

Plant started tending to his plants again. The only sounds was the rustling of leaves from the bush he was trimming before. It didn't take long for the sounds of footsteps to be heard and slowly disappear. Plant rolled his eyes. What a weirdo.

-

Plant groaned getting back home. He tried to strike a more suburban area to pilfer things he could use, but he didn't have any luck. He wondered if the Fake Men had sent reports of him at all. It seemed like everyone was on guard for their property. Plant huffed making his way to the greenhouse. He could go for some relaxation with his plants.

As he entered the greenhouse, he saw a large twine basket on one of the empty desks. Why and how did that get there? Plant frowned expecting the worst. He approached the basket. With a simple white cloth covering it, it didn't _look_ that bad. That wasn't going to make him any less wary of what was inside it though.

Plant slowly removed the cloth. He felt his core get both cold and light. Inside the basket contained all sorts of soil, mulch, sprays, and other materials for gardening along with a few E-Tanks. What was this...?

Plant notice a small folded piece of paper next to the E-Tanks. He grabbed and unfolded to see what was written.

" _Hey, I know you don't like humans and you're probably not that fond of me, but I thought I'd help you out somehow. Tell me if you want anything different! I'll be coming back tomorrow to get the basket. That's the only one we have that's like that. I hope you enjoy._

_\- Jewel"_

Plant's face scrunched. Why would some random robot want to help him out? ...Though he couldn't complain about it. Better to not mess with a good thing when he had been overexerting the amount of fuel he still had in him. He put down the note in exchange for an E-Tank. He opened the E-Tank and immediately drank its contents. Plant felt instant relief fueling up. He couldn't remember the last time he refueled up to capacity.

He sat down looking at all the equipment he had now. He wasn't sure if Jewel was trying to make him owe him, but he'll have an easier time living in his greenhouse. Plant looked at the note in the basket. He hummed before grabbing it again in an attempt to write on it. Wetting some of the soil with the spray, he managed to make makeshift 'ink' to write a sprawled message.

" _What you've brought is good, but I need a trowel. And a pen to write down more notes. Thank you."_

-

A few weeks had passed since they've first met, and Plant felt odd about the sort of relationship they had. Jewel kept a consistent schedule of giving Plant what he needed. He didn't seem to want anything else from Plant other than knowing that he was okay. Sometimes Jewel tried to chat with him, but he kept his comments short. It made Plant wonder why he bothered helping him at all.

The only thing Plant thought of that Jewel wanted was him to be his friend. Even then, Jewel seemed to kept his distance. Was he afraid of him? The little Light bot was confusing.

That was another thing Plant wasn't sure what to think. Whenever Jewel did talk, he tended to talk about his family. When he so casually talked about being a Light bot, Plant was on edge. He was sure Jewel was going to make him join his family. How Dr. Light had his children in their situation was unthinkable to him!

Jewel didn't seem to bother telling anyone from his family about Plant though. Probably because Jewel still didn't know his name. Despite that, Plant thought that he would tell his family about a homeless robot living in the outskirts of a rundown facility's greenhouse. Plant sipped his E-Tank thinking to himself.

Why did Jewel do all this for him then? He had the chance to blackmail him, force him to do what he wanted, or even force him to live with his family. It didn't look like Jewel was even in love with him since he didn't try to flirt or impress him. Why go through all the trouble? Plant's thoughts were interrupted when Jewel came with a delicious scent coming from the basket.

"Hey there. I bought some stuff from a bakery I liked getting your stuff. I thought you might like to try them." He smiled the soft little smile that Plant couldn't help think was actually cute. Jewel handed Plant the basket to examine what he wanted.

"Thanks..." Plant hummed looking inside. There a few pieces of bolillos along with a lot of varying pan dulce such as conchas and puerquitos. They all looked so familiar... Not quite like this, but close. He remembered how his creators would throw some small parties. His creators had pão doce along with all sorts of delicious meals. Plant would sneak some of the food so he could try them out.

Plant stared at the food. It felt... sad looking at the treats. He actually missed his creators. They were nice both to him and to other people. He wasn't sure what happened to them after the Robot Tournament. He ran away when the government tried to seize him. Plant scrunched his face into a frown. He wondered if they would accept him after what happened... He doubted it, but the possibility was there.

Jewel lowered his head to try to look at Plant in the eye. He looked a little worried. "Do you not like them? I could get you something else if you don't want them..."

Plant shook his head and looked up at Jewel. "It's fine. I was just thinking about something..."

"Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to of course..."

Plant pursed his lips. Could he really talk about his creators to him?  Looking at how young Jewel was, he doubted he could understand his situation that well. He slowly opened his mouth to speak.

"...Why are you helping me? I could have killed you if I thought you were dangerous enough. You're a Light bot too. I would have thought you'd try to force me to work for humans. What do you have to gain out of all of this? Just... why are you being so nice to me?"

Jewel blinked at him. He softly smiled and rubbed Plant's shoulder. "I just don't want to see anyone in trouble... Call me selfish, but I want both humans and robots to live in peace. Seeing you like this... It made me want to make sure you'll be okay. Even though I don't like Wily, I want to see the Wily bots safe and sound too. All I want from you is just to live safe in peace."

Plant stared at him for a while. He slowly teared up and closed his eyes.

"Oh dear... Did I say something wrong?" Jewel looked at Plant sadly. He was surprised when Plant starting giggling.

"Eee.. Eehehehehe! You're so weird..." Plant smiled and wiped his eyes. He opened his eyes to look at Jewel.

"...Jewel... Thank you so much for doing all this for me. This is the sort of thing I've needed for a long time..."

Jewel smiled and patted Plant's back. "You're welcome. ...Um... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but could I get your name? I'm never sure what to call you and I didn't want to give you a name you wouldn't like."

With another giggle, Plant responded.

"I'm Plant."


End file.
